Motorist decapitated after 'car's cruise control jams' before slamming into lorry

Motorist decapitated after 'car's cruise control jams' before slamming into lorry

A TERRIFIED driver told police his car's cruise control was jammed as he sped down the motorway before he slammed into the back of a lorry at more than 100mph, decapitating him instantly, an inquest heard.

Kaushal Gandhi called the emergency services as his car thundered along the M40 – but call-handlers could do nothing to help the 32-year-old before the horrific crash.

The terror ride was recorded by police and replayed to a coroner who heard how the company director struggled to control his white Skoda Octavia as it topped speeds of 116mph before the final devastating impact.

During the harrowing eight-minute emergency call, desperate Mr Gandhi told officers the car’s cruise control was jammed and he could not stop.

The coroner heard that the car finally careered off the motorway and into a lay-by where it slammed into a parked lorry.

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Emergency services who arrived at the scene soon after the crash found Mr Gandhi's headless body in the wreckage with the car embedded under the lorry up to its back wheels.

The inquest in Beaconsfield, Bucks, heard how the motorist desperately told police staff his car was driving itself as it reached 119mph two seconds before the collision with the 18 tonne truck.

Senior coroner Crispin Butler said data analysis from the mangled car's airbag systems failed to provide evidence of the defects described by Mr Gandhi during his frantic last call.

The inquest heard Mr Gandhi tell a male call handler: "My speed is increasing. I pressed a button to come onto the normal mode and then it is not allowing me to do anything."

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Police crash investigators found no evidence of defects on the car

n the eight-and-a-half minute period prior to the collision Mr Gandhi had been engaged in a phone conversation with Thames Valley Police

Coroner Crispin Butler

The call taker was then heard asking if he had tried pulling on the handbrake.

"I haven't tried it because at this speed I am not sure what will happen. I am in the middle lane right now, there is no traffic. Do you want me to try the hand brake?"

The call handler, who was then seeking advice from a colleague, got no response to a question before impact.

The coroner heard how retired firefighter Robert Hague, who was driving an Ocado HGV on the opposite carriageway, told police the white Skoda crashed into the truck 600 yards after the M40 merged into the A40 Western Avenue shortly after 3am.

Martin Clatworthy, a vehicle data examiner and safety specialist for Volkswagen, the makers of the Skoda, said: "There is no indication that there was any error or problem with any of the electronic systems of the car in the five seconds leading up to the collision."

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The coroner ruled out any suggestion that that Mr Gandhi, of Harrow, north west London, had deliberately taken his own life.

A toxicology report showed no substances that would affect Mr Gandhi's driving in his blood at the time.

Concluding the inquest with a narrative verdict Mr Butler said: "Shortly after 0300 hours on February 2 2016 the Skoda Octavia motor car being driven by Mr Gandhi was in collision with a Scania truck which was parked for the night in a lay-by on the eastbound carriageway of the A40 Western Avenue, approximately 600 metres east of the M40 junction 1. Mr Gandhi died instantly.

"In the eight-and-a-half minute period prior to the collision Mr Gandhi had been engaged in a phone conversation with Thames Valley Police.

"The vehicle was badly damaged in the collision but subsequent extensive investigations have not revealed any evidence of the faults described by Mr Gandhi."